Chloe Can Eat Cake—We’ll Save the Country
Joy is not a distraction. It’s the reason.
On the same day I published a 5,000 word piece documenting authoritarian collapse—
I threw a birthday party for my dog.
Her name is Chloe. She turned one.
She wore a party hat. She ate cake.
And while the country burned, she reminded me what we’re still fighting for.
There’s something both hilarious and gutting about that sentence.
It’s absurd.
But it’s also exactly right.
Because in the middle of ICE raids, military threats, press suppression, and democratic decay, I lit a birthday candle for a creature who knows none of it.
She doesn’t know what RFK Jr. did to the vaccine panel.
She doesn’t know the President is threatening “great force” against protesters.
She doesn’t know that Marines are being prepped to hit the streets of L.A.
Hell, she doesn’t even know it’s her birthday.
She knows this:
That I came home.
That I showed up.
That I handed her a special “cake” made for dogs and said, “Happy birthday, baby girl.”
And in that moment—
the world felt briefly sane.
I’ve been documenting what’s happening since January.
I’ve built what I call the Memory Register—a running record of what they’re doing to this country, day by day, line by line.
It’s more than 1,200 entries now.
Executive orders. ICE raids. Constitutional violations.
Court rulings. Sabotaged institutions. Abandoned truths.
And I’ve written posts like Nine Days in June to make sure it’s not just documented—it’s felt.
But the truth is?
Even memory needs a pause.
Even fire needs air.
That’s what Chloe gave me.
This tiny, ridiculous, perfect little dog in her polka-dot hat reminded me that resistance isn’t just about rage—it’s about joy.
Joy is why we fight.
Joy is what authoritarianism always tries to crush.
Joy is what they don’t understand—because they think cruelty is power.
But Chloe?
Chloe is soft.
Chloe is whole.
Chloe is loved.
And that makes her dangerous to them, too.
So yeah—Chloe ate her cake.
And we’ll keep fighting.
For our families.
For our furry friends.
For each other.
For the joy they want to steal.
Let them try.
We remember.
We resist.
And sometimes, we throw a party anyway.
Burn bright.
🐾❤️🔥
—Lisa
“It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt
The monks of old would call Chloe a bodhisattva in a polka-dot hat. Joy that endures in a burning world is not naive. It is resistance wrapped in frosting. The tyrant cannot abide it, which is why we must practice it with abandon.
Light the candle. Feed the pup. The empire hates a feast.
Virgin Monk Boy
Thank you for this. It made me cry. It made my day. The day my father died 49 years ago. The day I will fly back to California from relatively sane Japan, hoping there's no trouble getting back into the country so I can be reunited with my 16 year old baby - fur babies are babies forever, right?